More Than Us
by darknightice
Summary: Four young mutants have a fun afternoon in the sun...
1. Prologue

More Than Us

Prologue

Paige sighed as she shifted in her seats. She was sitting in class, another boring lecture from her teacher about…well, something. If you asked her, she couldn't tell you because she was far-gone. At her old school, she would've been staring at the clock by now, because it felt like this class must be over by now. However, at this new school, there were no clocks anywhere in the classes. Paige wasn't sure if this made time seem to move slower or faster, but either way she didn't like it. Her mind started to drift to her good friends, Anthony, Juliet and Emma, who she knew were just down the hall. Lucky for Juliet and Emma, they were in a class together. And Anthony…well, he just made friends wherever he went. Her thoughts were suddenly disrupted by the teacher dismissing the class. She put on her sunglasses and she got up, and walked out of the classroom.

Emma and Juliet stood outside their classroom, talking about their last class.

"He so likes you!" said Juliet.

"Uhm, no, no he doesn't." replied Emma.

"Does so!"  
"No!"

"Yes!"

"Well, why were you the one staring at him so much then?"

"Was not!"  
"Oh, you were so staring at him!"

"No, that was you!"  
"You were doing it too!"  
"No I wasn't!"  
"Yes, you were!"

"You both were." Said a voice suddenly, and they turned around to see a smiling boy with thick brown hair. Emma slapped him, or so she thought, but her hand went right through him, like he was thin air.

"I told you not to slap me!" Said the same voice, but from behind them. There stood Anthony, bring a hand up to Emma's forehead.

"Anthony, the only reason I did that was because I knew it wasn't the real you, just a psychic projection of yourself!" said Emma, trying to reason with him.

"A slap is a slap, my girl, and maybe now you'll learn how to control yourself…" he said, touching her forehead.

"You can't do anything to my mind! The…the…professor wouldn't approve!" she stammered out.

"He'd never know." Anthony replied and closed his eyes in concentration. Then he burst out laughing.

"What!" said Emma, wondering what he saw.

"I can't believe you actually thought I'd do something to your mind! Oh my goodness, you should've seen your face!" he said between laughs. Emma glared hard at Anthony, while Juliet started laughing as well.

"Yeah, he'd never read your mind, then he'd have dirty thoughts for once!" she said, laughing.

"I think my thoughts would do more damage to Anthony's clean mind, to be honest." Said Paige, coming up to the group with a laugh.

"About time you got here." Said Emma.

"Yeah I can see I missed a lot…are you guys ready to go?" she asked.

"What makes you the leader of this team? I should be in control!" said Anthony.

"It's the sunglasses. Now let's get going, team." Paige said and walked down the hall, with the other three closely behind them.


	2. Chapter 1

More Than Us

Chapter One

"So, Paige, do you know what Summers wants this time around?" asked Emma, while attempting to brush her hair as the wind blew it around.

"Not a clue, he just said something about we're going on an 'exercise'." Replied Paige as they walked through the grounds outside of the mansion.

"Exercise? Man, I hate exercise!" said Anthony, waiting for someone to laugh at his joke.

"Well, you could sure use some, kid." Said a voice behind them. They turned around and saw Scott Summers, headmaster of the school standing there.

"We were just looking for you, sir…" said Emma.

"I bet you were. For the rest of the day, you four have been assigned to an assignment. As a team, you must locate a large, clear quartz in the forest just south of the mansion. Report back to me as soon as you have found it." He said, and walked away. They four looked at each other, and Juliet began to laugh. Soon Emma and Paige were laughing, and the three started walking.

"Did…did he call me fat!" asked Anthony slowly, gaining more laughter from his team mates.

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The four teammates walked through the forest carefully, looking at everything.

"How are we going to find a quartz in all of this!" said Emma exasperated.

"Very carefully." Replied Paige with a laugh.

"Say, Charm, why not take on another form?" asked Anthony.

"Hmm…okay." She replied, and transformed into a hawk. Emma began to rant about how ridiculous it was that they could find a gem in this forest, and Paige and Anthony fell a bit behind her strides, realizing it was better to just let her go at it, while Juliet soared above them.

"..and I mean honesty, it's not like any of our mutant powers will help us find this thing! Nope! It's just a bloody wild goose chase until we AHHHHH!" the end of her sentence was cut off as she fell down into a hole with a scream. She landed hard on her back, and looked up at where she came from. Way up high, she saw the faces of Paige and Anthony look down at her.

"Are…are you okay?" asked Paige. Emma sighed.

"Yeah, I'll be alright."  
"Then get back up here!" said Anthony.

"I can't get back up there, you idiot! You guys'll have to come down here, it's much too high to climb or anything. Besides, you can all fly!" she said angrily. Paige and Anthony looked at each other, and shrugged before floating down with control. Juliet flew down as a hawk, but switched back to her human form as she landed.

"Terra, think you can light up this place a bit?" asked Juliet.

"Yeah, sure." She replied, and brought her arms upwards, light shooting out of her palms. As the four looked around, they saw scraped pieces of sentinels lying around.

"Emma…you might've found something…" said Anthony, and they decided to explore further.


	3. Chapter 2

More Than Us

Chapter Two

The four young mutants known as Terra, Charm, Inferna and Psysage walked carefully through a tunnel underground.

"Do you think this is part of the X-Mansion? Xavier and Warren were pretty extensive when building it…" commented Charm.

"I doubt it, it'd be connected to the subbasement if it was." Replied Inferna.

"Maybe it's a trick from Summers. Y'know, trying to scare us off or something?" suggested Charm.

"No way, he's too busy for something like that. But what's with all these vintage sentinels lying around?" said Terra.

"Beats me, but clearly there's been some mutant activity down here at some point in time." Replied Psysage. Suddenly they noticed a computer that was humming softly. Terra went towards it.

"Maybe we can learn about what was down here…if I only had a little more light." She mumbled as she tried to work the computer...

"Why didn't you just ask?" said Inferna as her hand, engulfed in flames, came forward, lighting the keyboard.

"Thanks…password, eh? Let's try this one." Said Terra, typing in X-A-V-I-E-R. Suddenly, an alarm went off loudly.

"Error. Wrong Password." Came over the loudspeaker. Terra glanced at the other three, before fiercely kicking in the computer, silencing the alarm.

"We should probably pick up the pace." Suggested Charm as the four continued on their way, practically running.

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Sarah sat in the dark room, the only light coming from a computer screen. She put her hand through her blue hair as she looked at the error message. She spoke into her headset.

"Splinter, Siryn, it looks like we have a guest."

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"Psyke, can you sense any activity going on down here? There's no way that computer would be active if this place was deserted."

"Sorry Terra, but there's nothing down here but us…"replied Psysage. Suddenly there was a noise behind them, and they turned around. Thirty guards were approaching the group.

"Nothing but us, eh buddy?" said Terra with a smirk.

"RUN!" yelled Inferna, and they bolted down the tunnel.

"We should be fighting them!" said Charm.

"We can't handle them! Our best bet is to alert Summers and Frost," replied Terra as they ran. Up ahead, they could see where the tunnel came to a dead end, but there was a hole in the roof, much like where they originally came from. Terra slow down her pace a bit, a vague plan forming.

"Guys, we need to get back to the surface. I'll use my powers to push us all up; you just have to trust me. " she said. The others nodded, concentrating on running too much to question. Psysage, however, slowed down, as he didn't need to use his power to see what Terra was about to pull. As the approached the wall, Terra brought her arms back and then forward, pushing them upwards. Unbeknownst to her, Psysage did the exact same thing, but used his Telekinesis to carry them well outside the tunnel. As they stopped in front of the wall, Terra glanced over and saw Psysage there.

"What are you doing!" she exclaimed.

"You didn't think I'd let you play hero all by yourself, did you?" he said with a confident smile as the guards approached them.

"You complicate things." She said with a sigh.

"Kinda like your face, really." Replied Psysage. Terra was fuming but tried not to show it. As she turned around, there were two scantily clad women staring at them, surrounded by soldiers. One had long green hair while the other had short vibrant blue hair. They both had deep purple eyes. The one with blue hair pulled out a device and flung it right at Psysage, who screamed out in pain before hitting the floor. Terra kneeled beside him.

"What did you do to him!" she screamed out in anger.

"You really can't take chances with psychics, you know. Unlike you. Yes, we could have a fair fight, I'd wager." Said the one with green hair.

"Who are you?" she asked, standing up.

"They call me Siryn, and she is Razz." Said the girl with the green hair, who then lunged at Terra. Terra blocked a few of her attacks, and managed to get a good kick to Siryn's gut before Terra fell to the ground, barely breathing. She could hear the sound of someone walking towards them, and saw glimpses of a man. The last things she heard before passing out were,

"Ah, the X-men. Always so pathetic."


	4. Chapter 3

More Than Us

Chapter Three

A scream escaped from Inferna's lips as she flew forcefully through the air, flailing her arms and legs rather ungracefully. Her and Charm landed with a splash back at the mansion's swimming pool. As Inferna emerged, Charm floated, giggling happily. Inferna had a sour look on her face.

"That was fun!" said Charm through her laughter. Inferna climbed angrily out of the pool.

"Yeah, maybe for you…hey…where's Psysage?"

"And what about Terra…?" Charm replied concerned.

"Those people must have them! We need to go back there and save them!" exclaimed Inferna, heading off in a random direction. Charm quickly pulled herself out of the pool and grabbed a hold of her friend's arm.

"NO! Terra told us to get the X-Men, we need to go get the X-men. We'd have no chance of saving them by ourselves, and our death won't help at all." Inferna knew her friend was right, but didn't want to admit she was useless in helping her friends. She finally conceded, lowering her head.

"You're right. Let's go find someone that can help…" with that the two walked towards the Mansion.

Paige slowly rolled her head upwards as she came to. As her vision cleared, she moved her arm up to move her hair and found that she was handcuffed.

"Forty five minutes, and thirty two point seven seconds. Not bad." Said a smooth voice. She focused her vision and saw the same man from before, as well as the two girls standing on either side of them. There was a steel table between herself and her enemies, and she realized she was also chained to the metal chair upon which she sat.

"I'm sorry, I'm awfully bad with names…Siryn, and Jazz, wasn't it?" she said slowly.

"Razz, actually. You'll forgive me for not forgetting yours, but Terra is awfully boring, which makes it hard to forget." Replied Razz. Terra closed her eyes, trying not to let them upset her.

"As for me, they call me Splinter. But, well, we're all friends here. Might as well call her Sarah, and that green-haired beauty Milla. As for me, you can call me Billy, Paige." He said with a smile. Paige couldn't conceal her shock.

"How…did you know…my real name?" she said slowly.

"We know many things, Paige. Maybe you'd like to know more about us?" Paige nodded numbly as Milla continued to talk.

"We're members of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle. Working with the Black King and Queen, we are researching and developing ways to shape the future more to …our liking."

"And what, exactly, do you want with me?"

"It's somewhat simple, really. You, and your friends were caught trespassing on our grounds. Although we're fairly sure you all learned nothing, we can't simply let you leave." Said Sarah.

"So, you will work for us." Billy completed the concept.

"Work? For you? Never." Replied Paige strongly. Milla suddenly jumped into the air, over the table, and kicking Paige in the face before landing. Paige fell painfully on to her side, still attached to the chair. Sarah and Billy walked around to her, while Milla pulled down her dress a little bit.

"You might as well, really. You've got nothing to lose." Said Billy.

"Except all my morals, dignity, the very thing I am!" spat back Paige, the ground around them shaking slightly. She usually hated when her powers flared because of emotions, but maybe it would work on her side…just this once. There was dark laughter coming from Sarah.

"I see now, you think you're going to get rescued, or somehow break out of here yourself. It's useless. Your 'X-buddies' could never reach you…we've already killed your precious Anthony." She said, amused. The last words hit Paige hard, taking her breath from her.

"He went out rather courageously though…I for one was impressed…we could've used him, if he wasn't so…dead." Added Milla.

"Stop…lying," defiantly said Paige, mustering what strength she had left, remembering her training.

"We have no need to lie to you. We want you to join us, and we can teach you how to really use your powers, while keeping your emotions in check. At least think about it. However, whether you join us or not, Sarah and Milla need a little exercise." Billy headed for the door.  
"Don't hold back, girls, but keep her alive. Feel free to take her capacity for pain to its very limits." With that, Billy left Paige alone with the two deadly girls, already warming up their powers. However, knowing that her teammate was dead because of her foolish plan, she found no reason to fight back.

Codenames Shadowcat and Beast were sitting in the garden of the Mansion, enjoying each other's company, when two drenched students approached them.

"Doctor McCoy! Madame Pryde! You must help us!" implored Emma.

"Why, Emma Tucker, Juliet Guthrie, I thought you two were sent on a mission alongside Paige Menzel and Anthony Davis?" said the Beast.

"We were! And we fell down into this cave, where these weird people chased us, and they have Paige and Anthony!" said Emma as fast as possible.

"Where…how far did you guys go!" replied Shadowcat.

"Just outside the mansion! Still part of the grounds, I would think…it was that way," said Juliet, pointing north. Shadowcat and Beast exchanged concerned looks.

"What type of people were down there? Morlocks?" asked Shadowcat.

"No…I think they were mutants, but not morlocks. They looked like regular humans, but they attacked fast. They were really organized too, and had equipment like computers and stuff down there…" Emma tried to explain.

"I think it would be best if we go talk to Headmasters about this…" started Beast, when the White Queen, Emma Frost, and Cyclops, Scott Summers, appeared.

"You know I prefer to title Headmistress, Hank." Shadowcat's eyes narrowed, and it was obviously she didn't agree with the White Queen…at all.

"Inferna, Charm…where is the rest of your team?" said Cyclops.

"They've been captured!" exclaimed Emma, sounding much more younger than she intended. The beast stepped forward.

"If I may?" the White Queen and Cyclops nodded, "Good. It appears that the four of them stumbled upon an underground base of some organization, whether they're against us or not, on the mansion's grounds. My guess would be they are against us, however we're unsure if they're mutant or not."

"And, they have Terra and Psysage?" asked Cyclops. Beast, Shadowcat, Charm and Inferna all nodded.

"This needs to be investigated by all of us," said Cyclops firmly.

"Dearie, I think one of us should stay behind, to watch the school. You go on ahead and have your fun." She said, and disappeared.

"Alright team, let's move out! "

Anthony groaned as he awoke with a massive headache. He didn't recognize where he was…at all. It was a dark, damp, cold room. Small…but there was some sort of bars on one side. He tried to reach out with his mind, but got a strong shock, causing him to curl up on the floor.

"Argh…I won't be trying that again for a while…" he muttered. Suddenly, a gate opened, and he tried to look towards it. A guard threw a limp body to the back of the cell, which hit the wall and then crumpled, and then slammed the gate shut again. Anthony slowly began to drag himself towards the body, little shocks of electricity still hitting him now and then. As he reached the figure, he noticed it was drenched in blood, and the breathing was very shallow. As he unraveled some of the clothing around her, he gasped as he saw it was Paige. Parts of her skin were clear of blood, and he could trace the path the tears took. He knew that Paige almost never cried, and wondered what emotional as well as physical pain they put her through. He put an arm around her, holding her securely. He would make sure they would not harm her anymore…not this time. She stirred slightly and looked up at him.

"Now I know I am dead," she said, before passing out again.


End file.
